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OK, so not Romance-related, but I thought it might be of interest anyway.
This is from a blog at
http://daniel.glazman.free.fr/weblog/newarchive/2003_06_22_glazblogarc.html#
s95940038
>>>>>
Finnish, Estonian, Lappish, Mordve, Tcheremisse, Samoyede, ... I have just
realized that languages related to finnish have a very special way of
counting 8 and 9:
1 2 8 9 10
Finnish yksi kaksi kahdeksan yhdeksan kymmenen
Estonian üks kaks kaheksa üheksa kümme
Lappish okta guokta gávcci ovcci logi
It really seems that in these languages, 8 is "10 minus 2" and 9 is "10
minus 1". It also seems that the "10" used there is an external contribution
to the language. I wonder if the fin. "-deksan", est. "-eksa", lap. "-vcci"
come from an indo-european root, like the word for 10 in hungarian is
borrowed from an indo-european source. I found no direct correlation with
that and the word for "hand" in these languages.
I wonder if languages of another group count 8 and 9 like that...
Update: Latin 9 is IX, ten minus one.
<<<<<<
An interesting possibility for any mutant conlang, I'd have thought.
James
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James Campbell james@hidden.email www.zolid.com
Boring, but a cool boring.
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